The much discussed intercooler blocking plate is comprised of a flexible rubberized plastic rectangle with a very sticky adhesive on it. (See pics below.) To remove it, you can stick your hand in through the front bumper opening and peel it off. It is not that difficult to do. Here's a couple of pics of it after it has been removed...

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Did you do any research before removing that???? They made such a big deal to glue a piece of plastic onto the intercooler...... it must be for a good reason.

I'm not gonna be the guinea pig. I'll let y'all tell me how your car is running by next year! I'm too scared. lol

 

Some of the tuners have already mentioned pulling the blanking plate off.

 

I was just thinking about the blocking plate and Minnesota winters. I wonder if I'll need to augment the blocking plate!

 

It's gone before I leave the dealer. I live in the desert. I don't need it.


@CoolTech did it leave a bunch of adhesive on the intercooler?

 

we need a before and after dyno comparison

 

I was thinking both the same things. 1) It might be on there for a reason. 2) I live in the desert, so it's probably a win in the summer at least for me.

Still, just randomly stripping things that either have aerodynamic or functional effect is probably a bad policy for an arm-chair engineer.

 

I suppose many of you may know the famous nightmare some people had with the F150 eco-boost trucks, right? Long story short under some very unique conditions, water condensation would build up in the intercooler and then the engine would ingest it and it would cause the engine to shake violently and fall flat on its face. The trouble was 1) that water formed in the first place and; 2) to ingest it, you would have to be in pretty good boost. It happened to me one time. I was in a rainstorm towing a trailer from LA to Las Vegas. About 3 hours into the trip - driving rain all the way, we stopped briefly in Baker for fuel and some fast food. When we were leaving Baker on the back road toward Death Valley, I pulled out to pass a slow moving vehicle. The truck fell flat on its face, shook like hell, (felt like a transmission issue) and I couldn't accelerate. I few seconds later it was fine. A change of underwear later I realized what had happened as quite a few folks had written about it and it took Ford awhile to understand the cause.

With the RS, I feel like there are some VERY UNIQUE situations where the same thing could occur. 99.9% of the rest of the time, the added efficiency of the WHOLE intercooler is going to help you. Being in dry, Southern California, I don't feel I'm taking any risk at all.

 

But in a hot cold climate it's best to leave it on correct

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Just know, the main reason water hurts an engine is the fact that it doesn't compress like air......that's what screws stuff up.....like bending rods and blowing tops..... but that's a chance you take.... Good luck with that...

 

Yes, you are correct when you get enough water into the cylinder and it exceeds the volume of the combustion chamber. There are literally 10's of thousands of F150 3.5L eco-boost trucks running around out there with this same "exposure". No doubt, it is a safety issue when the engines stalls out at the least opportune time.... but there's not enough water ingested to bend rods, etc. If the difference between blowing a motor or not was really the risk, I think you would see something that was a little bit better engineered than this stick-on piece of rubber.

 

I'd rather have that blanking plate than all the bugs,dirt and whatever else that'll be sticking to that adhesive making its on blanking plate.


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I would bet that taking that lil piece of plastic off instantly voids any warranty claim dealing with the engine....

I'll be a wuss and leave it on.. I live in the 2nd most humid place in the world..... unless other Houston people remove it and have absolutely no problems. Then, maybe.

 

I swear it fell off!

 

I'm trying to understand what's happening here:

I guess in very humid conditions the inter-cooler is cooled below the dew point. Water condenses inside the inter-cooler, and is dragged into the engine in sufficient volume to interfere with combustion. The intake air is inside the cooler, and has the same amount of water as the outside (cooling) air. Do I have that right?

It seems to me the only way the intake air could be cooled below the air's dew point is if it's raining (100% humidity outside). In the rain our air-to-air inter-cooler magically becomes air-to water! The cold rain cools the inter-cooler below the air's dew point and condensation occurs. Condensation is unlikely to happen in really cold temps, because the dew point is so low. Or ever in the desert because it's so dry (dew point low).

I wonder if there's a way to just use the blanking plate in the rain.

 

You've got that all right except that the air in the IC is pressurized above ambient, which effects the "dew point".

 

This is better than a shutter system the ST had.

 

I'm an Automotive Engineer and have been following the development of the RS about a year before I ordered mine in October 2015. I understand they put the blanking plate in because the intercooler was TOO efficient and forming water droplets that were then ingested by the engine! VERY VERY bad idea! Unless you can get confirmation somewhere else that you can do this, I would not do it. I believe one of the youtube rebirth of an icon episodes briefly talks about the intercooler blocking plate.

 

As an Automotive Engineer (although I don't know your primary discipline) you might know that Ford's explanation of "the intercooler is TOO efficient" is really an over-simplification of a complex subject - and I don't profess to know all of the in and outs either. However, I DO know that there are many conditions - especially in hot climates, where a bigger intercooler is going to be a lot more effective than a partially blocked intercooler. To Ford's point, apparently they found some conditions where the larger intercooler would cause water condensation and a quick fix was to reduce its efficiency.

I DO agree with you that owners shouldn't remove the block plate without considering all of the consequences - both good and bad.

 

Im going to wait and see how bad the charge air temps are before removing. Id hope for only a few degrees above ambient on WOT otherwise its comming off. We have enough difficulty in socal with heat soak as it is.....

 

Also nervous about this one.
With average humidity of mid-60s on the Gold Coast Australia (which i believe is pretty low) it shouldnt bother mine too much.

but I will still be getting local tuner to see what he thinks before removal.

 

I'm in South Australia, mine will becoming off, build up of condensation won't be happening in this state extra cooling efficiency will be worth it, for those that don't know South Australia, our Summer temp can get up to 50deg cel and next to no humidity......yes it's hot!

 

I wonder if the MY17 won't have the blanking plate. Maybe a smaller IC so it can have the centered look like the MY16 originally had.

 

Did it leave adhesive on the IC? I want to cut mine in half and put the other half on the other side so it's at least symmetrical.

 

It's likely that the blanking plate is on the intake (to the IC) side for a purpose. There's a much greater temp delta on the intake side of all IC's. That temp differential is less and less, progressively, as air moves to the IC exit, and it's not linear.

Like you, the asymmetrical look rubs me the wrong way. But I'm afraid it's likely that way for a reason. You might be able to find a material that looks very similar to the blocking plate (it's not very obvious); but allows air to pass through to a large degree, and fashion a driver's side "dummy plate" for a more symmetrical appearance.

 

I just hope that it doesn't look like a crusty mudflap after a year or two.

 

I'm thinking what I'm going to do is remove the blanking plate but then install a fine mesh screen to protect the IC from bugs and rocks. This will most likely reduce the efficiency of the IC back to blocking plate-installed condition, and the screen will have a purpose.

 

I would say, unless you play to tune the car and actually take advantage of the extra efficiency, leave the plate on and don't muck about with warranty. I see this as something Ford will not take too kindly to if anything goes kaput with the engine.

 

This thread is funny. People in here armchair quarterbacking the removal of the blanking plate while they are arm deep in their gtx2867 swapped ST with meth injection. Lol.

 

Some of yall are forgetting that humidity changes everywhere during different types of weather. If it's rainy, low clouds, or fog, it's humid......even in a desert. i'm just saying...

If anything, i might spray paint matte black over a design similar to the intercolor, so it might slightly blend in....instead of a shiny, square flap in my grill.

 

My mod will be extra large blank plate to cover the entire intercooler so that it matches and wont get bugs on the intercooler so that when it comes time to sell, the part will look brand new

 

:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:

I plan on doing the same for the radiator. I always get bugs and rocks mucking up the fins.

 

Since Ford engineers have deemed the stock intercooler too efficient, I thought it best to just remove it entirely. I have piped the hot side of the turbo directly to the intake thus alleviating any risk of condensation. I have also added a snorkel intake to make my next river crossing a breeze. My next mod will be a decompression valve to allow me to start the engine after hydrolock. You can never be too safe.

On a serious note we do get fairly hot humid summers in TN and I have removed my blanking plate. We'll see if I'm dancing with the devil.

 

According to my Dealer in Europe and different Members of a local Group, getting that Plate off will void the complete Warranty. Guess I'll do a readup on the warranty when I get the chance. I mean...Why the hell would you glue that **** on. Its glueing a TV to a Wall because the wall is to sturdy to drill into.